Five African presidents failed to fly to Libya this weekend in a mediation bid when they were denied waiver of the no-fly zone by the United Nations Security Council, forcing them to abort the mission.

On March 10, the African Union (AU) had formed a committee to deal with the Libyan crisis and selected five African presidents, including South Africa's Jacob Zuma, as the designated peace mediators. African officials met this weekend in Mauritania, from where they were to fly on to Tripoli.

The UN Security council turned down their request for permission to travel to Libya, Uganda's minister of foreign affairs told the East African nation's leading independent daily newspaper, The Daily Monitor.

After being denied permission to travel to Libya by the UN, the officials released a statement quoted in The Daily Monitor which in part read: “The committee, in conformity with resolution 1973(2011) of the United Nations Security Council, requested for the required permission for the flight carrying its members to Libya in order to fulfill their mandate. The committee was denied permission.”